At the start of the year I was seriously considering trading in my TD5 D2 for either a 08 Defender or the upcoming 60th aniversary Defender. I got to test drive an 07 Defender for a couple of hours. I liked it, but not see $50000.00 + worth of value in it. It had lost a lot of appeal with the crappy dash, the lack of vents, the power buldge and the inclusions supposed to enhance my driving pleasure.
A few weeks later
I stumbled across an old Isuzu powered County for sale in the local paper and bought it that afternoon.
What my old Isuzu powered County has not got that makes it more appealling to me to go touring and offroading in than a newer Landy? It's basic, there is no ECU therefore no need to worry about a car rendered useless till it's plugged into a computer to clear a fault. No ABS sensors to get dirty and render the vehicle almost useless, no automatic box to flash up the dash like a Xmas tree due to the air con vent dripping water on the gear selector, no imobiliser issues if the battery is on it's way out, no need to spend an afternoon pulling apart the interior to get the smell of wet mud out, no worries about filling up with cruddy fuel or bio diesel, no worries about the lack of dealer networks if the car goes wrong in the middle of nowhere, no need for any electrical system to start the thing up if a hidden body earth rattles apart over countless corrigations, no high pressure fuel lines to bust, no airbag suspension to let me down, no airbag compliance restrictions on accessories, no pizz weak rear differential, no luxury interior parts to distract the driver from their task at hand, no fly by wire accelerator sensors, no silly impractical wheel sizes that restrict your ability to buy common sized tyres or even spare rims, electronic aids, dashes, climate control that freezes over the thermostat and chucks the heater on on a 40c day (cause the car thinks it's snowing outside) In fact my car doesn't think, it makes me do that job, it's slow it's loud, it's the best bloody car I have ever driven.
If Land Rover Australia took me to a dealer and offered me a straight swap of any brand new Land Rover with my 23yr old County I would be driving home in my poo brown Isuzu powered vibrator instantly.
If I had to tour in a Land Rover for an extended period of time, I would pick my County.
It's not that I do not like the newer vehicles, I and many more people just don't trust them out of civilisation without heavy technical backup.
It's sad fact that a many a Land Rover enthusiast would pick a $2500.00 - $15000.00 vehicle over a new one to go touring in. Land Rover need to address this issue in the design of there new lineup. If the engineers kept it simple as it was 20 yrs ago, they would be selling a lot more vehicles today, unfortunately that bridge was burnt when zee Zermans had control.
I honestly don't know why this thread was started anyway, Land Rover management are more concerned with what speed Posh and Becks types can accelerate away from the paparazzi without spilling there Venti sized latte's from the multitude of cup holders than building real world 4wd capable vehicles.
